Pol Pot Cambodian Genocide

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Why do leaders force genocide upon their citizens? The Cambodian Genocide is one of the cruelest events ever in history. Pol Pot is most infamous for killing millions of his very own people. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge which is responsible for millions of innocent people dying in Cambodia. Killing innocent people and taking away their natural rights qualifies as a human rights violation. This would violate Article 3 of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration, “"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." Pol Pot was born into a wealthy family and was born in Cambodia. Later in his life Pol attended a school in Paris and studied radio communications. While studying these things, Pol became very fond with Communists. In Paris, Pol also was involved with underground Communist circles and Communist…show more content…
You couldn’t even speak to anyone; not even your own family. Their reasoning is, they suspected that you were plotting against the government. If you were caught talking by the Khmer Rouge, they would either arrest you or sentence you to death. People who were educated and possessed knowledge were sentenced to death as well. Pol Pot also eliminated people who had relations with Lon Nol’s forces. Pol Pot went so far that he would even execute his own people because they were also suspected of betraying the government. He thought that this is the way that he would remain in power. Pol Pot’s main plan was to introduce the “Four-Year-Plan”. The “Four-Year-Plan” was to produce three tons of rice. He forced all of his people to harvest and if they didn’t follow the plan, they would either be executed or arrested. This plan would be in effect all year. The citizens of Cambodia would get very little time off from working. Citizens would work for 12 hours a day and would sometimes not be fed. Workers had to deal with no food because the Khmer Rouge wouldn’t give the workers

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